under him; the ‘Church believing’ is the entire body of all the faithful
professing the Catholic Faith.
The Church may convey her infallible teaching either in ‘solemn
pronouncements’
or through her ‘ordinary teaching.’ Her solemn
pronouncements include all doctrines contained in the four great Creeds
(Apostles’,
Nicene, Athanasian, Profession of Pius IV), the definitions of
the Popes, or General Councils deliberating under the Pope. The Church’s
ordinary teaching is that doctrine taught by the Pope and the bishops of the
world in the everyday exercise of their pastoral office without interruption
since Apostolic times.
Individual bishops of the Church are not infallible in themselves, but only
when they act collectively in union with the Pope. Furthermore, no
individual member of the Church is infallible in belief, not even the Pope.
The Pope’s infallibility pertains only to his teaching office, not to his
personal beliefs.
The object of the Church’s infallibility is the ‘Deposit of Faith’.
This
includes all doctrines delivered by Christ and His Apostles and forming
God’s ‘public’ revelation to mankind. These doctrines are found in ‘Sacred
Scripture’ and ‘Tradition.’ Sacred Scripture includes all the inspired books
of the Old and New Testaments as contained in the Greek Septuagint
version; Tradition embraces all those truths which have been passed on
from age to age either orally, in the writings of the Church Fathers, in the
Acts of the Martyrs, in early paintings and inscriptions, in the liturgy, in the
practices and customs of the Universal Church, and in the definitions of
Popes and Councils.
Before Our Lord Jesus Christ ascended into heaven from Mount Olivet, He
commanded His disciples as follows:
“Go therefore and make disciples of
all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of
the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have
commanded you” (St. Matt. 28:19-20). These last words of Our Lord
contain the promise of doctrinal infallibility and were directed not only to
St. Peter and the other Twelve, but also to their lawful successors: “And
remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Ibid.). If Christ is
with His Apostles and their successors to the end of time, it follows that
their listeners are bound to receive their teaching as if it were Christ’s own.
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